A Second Chance

Part 53 - So why'd you end up here?

I was about to take that second step back into my own personal hell, but a voice from behind made me freeze in my tracks.

"He actually went in?"

I turned around and saw Emily standing there. 

My heart nearly stopped. "Emily?! What are you doing here?! I thought I told Krasinski to get you out of here!"

Emily just shrugged like it was no big deal. "I woke up and convinced him to let me go. You didn't think I'd just let you walk away, did you?"

"You could have been safe. You had every reason to stay home, so why would you come back for me?"

"Because I thought Deathstroke was going to kill you. Also, why do you look like you're about to cry?"

I wiped my eyes and tried to steady my voice. "I had to make a deal with him. Turns out he's got sleeper cells everywhere. He told me if I don't go back to the desert I escaped from, you're gonna his first target. I really don't want that to happen, so I've got no choice." I looked at the floor because I could not stand to see her expression. "I'm sorry, Emily, but he's just way too powerful for us to handle."

She stepped up and punched me right in the arm. "Did you forget about my home security, silly?"

Before I could ask what she meant, she pulled me down toward the ground. My world became blurry for a second, and suddenly I was standing in a long, dark corridor. It felt like a room with no end in sight, and I was standing face to face with her.

"What is this place?"

"My shadow realm. I've never actually taken anyone down here before, so you're the first guest."

I looked around at the pitch black walls and felt the strange stillness of the air. "Do you feel better?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think I'm fine now. But why bring me down here?"

"Just felt like it. And I've got news,"

"News about what?"

"Everyone's pissed at the government for their failure. But good thing, all l the corrupt people were found and prosecuted. The truth about The Vipers is now international."

"So, they're done?"

"Yea, all the companies got rid of their contracts. The project is halted on this side and everyone internationally's been acquitted,"

"What about Chicago?"

She smiled. "State of exception,"

"State of... what?"

"The state government said no like the b*tch*s they are, so the federal government used a state of exception to override it. It got rid of constitutional rights, like freedom of association and rights to legal defense. So, it became easy to arrest Viper members in mass. 30,000 of them are  are already prison in the country alone,"

I frowned. "Do they make sure people are innocent?"

"Yeah, Vipers are easy to identify. Homeland security's also finding connections to them as well. Everyone arrested is guilty,"

I checked my phone to see it, and she was right. 

Another thing that shocked me was how much protests I was seeing in opposition to The Vipers. People were working with the police to take down Vipers, snitching on them and giving everything out about them. 

Hundreds of thousands of people protested for The Vipers to be dismantled, and for them to end. The police would cheer them on, and they even gave bottles of water to the police.